Joy And Justice In The Great Gatsby

Unit Rational: In the text, Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-Imagining the Language Arts Classroom, author Linda Christensen (2009) explores the notion and importance of teaching students through a pedagogy of joy and justice. Components of such pedagogy include crafting curriculum that emphasizes social justice, so students are able to “see that history is not inevitable, that there are spaces where it can bend, change, and become more just,” and “creating a curriculum that matters, a curriculum that helps students make sense of the world, that makes then feel smart … and educated.” I stand firm that this unit, which analyzes historical influences of race, gender and education in regards to the American Dream in the 1920s and in modern society, will foster Christensen’s pedagogy of teaching joy and justice. Students will examine this topic historically through reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s canonical novel, The Great Gatsby as the unit’s fulcrum text. Textual and context text will enhance students understanding of the way these influence shaped the …show more content…
Through a lack of diversity throughout the school and classroom, the social influence theory supports the notion that evaluating these tough questions can be difficult without exposure to other attitudes or beliefs. The lack of cultural, ethnic and sexual diversity in this class is not the students’ fault, but I feel called as their teacher to support them in exploring and understanding these questions. Being an educator for joy and justice provoke students to critically analyze the way that privilege plays in our world and the importance of realizing this and acting upon change. In doing this, I am recognizing a need to acknowledge the social influence of race, gender and education in our society and how such can be evaluated positively or negatively (cited from Aaronson,